Blood Moon (Alpha Wolf Academy Book 3)

by JJ King

  We waited until he was around fifteen feet away and started down the path towards him, chatting about the upcoming party just to make the run in as authentic as possible. We split at the last moment to let Benson walk between us, but not far enough apart to let it happen without bumping shoulders.

  His roar of insult was immediate. How dare anyone get in his way? But when he saw who it was that had walked into him, disturbing his peace, his face went dark purple with annoyance and anger.

  "Watch where you're fucking going!" he snapped, curling his lips back in a sneer.

  I turned my back on him as if to walk away, knowing that would infuriate him much more than standing up to him. Benson didn't deal well with being ignored and it was better for him to think he'd instigated the argument. He'd be less likely to link our probing that way.

  "Don't turn your back on me!" he shouted, snaking out a hand to grab my arm. His fingers pressed in my flesh, bruising it. I thanked the Old Ones our kind healed quickly. There would be no evidence of his presumption on my body soon enough. He yanked me forward and I let myself stumble, off-balance, while Daniella played her part with a quiet growl.

  "Get your hand off her!" Daniella ordered, stepping forward to bare her teeth at Benson. I felt a swell of pride in my chest at the fierceness in her eyes. I knew she was just playing a part right now, but that fierceness wasn't faked. Daniella had my back despite any issues we still had with each other.

  Benson dismissed her immediately and turned his gaze on me. Soft voices, like the conversation of several people in a nearby room, whispered urgently in my mind. I focused on pushing them down just like I'd been practicing and narrowed my eyes at my bully.

  "That's alright, Daniella. I don't mind." I locked my gaze on his and stepped even closer. "It's not like I haven't beaten him before. It's not like I haven't driven him to his knees, begging for mercy, before."

  His eyes went impossibly dark with barely controlled fury but in them I saw a flicker of memory and fear. His hand loosened from my arm and he shoved me back away from him with a growl of disgust.

  "You're a freak."

  He kept his words low, barely above a whisper, because our little altercation had started to draw eyes as I knew it would. Benson cared about optics almost as much as he cared about dominating others, so those extra eyes would ensure he'd have to come out on top. He wouldn't back down now.

  I smiled slowly, letting my eyes fill with amusement and dismissal. "No, what I am is stronger than you." I had advanced forward. "What I am is smarter than you." Another step closer, crowding him, pushing him so his control would snap. "What I am is more important than you."

  I saw the moment he snapped and barely held back a grin. Checkmate.

  He leaned into me, putting his face so close I could smell the coffee he drank with breakfast and feel the warmth of his breath on my face. It ignited the voices until they rang in my mind, urgent and confusing, a jumble of sound and need and emotion.

  I bit back a gasp and pushed through the cacophony inside my head to focus on what I was doing. I prayed Benson didn't notice the effort it took for me to come back to reality and pushed away the fear that tightened my chest painfully. The voices had never been this loud or insistent before. I didn't know what they wanted, and I couldn't push them back like I've been doing. I gritted my teeth and pushed through them, unwilling to show any sign of weakness in front of an enemy.

  "You have no fucking idea who I am, little wolf," he snarled.

  My heart caught at his use of the same nickname my uncle had used just before he'd tried to kill me, the first time.

  Benson's teeth ground together so that he spoke through them, a furious growl. "You're nothing. Your friends are nothing." He glanced hatefully at Daniella and his lips peeled back to reveal a terrifying smile that knew way too much. "Little girls should learn to keep their mouths shut or someone will shut it for them." He thrust his chin forward as if to headbutt me and, instinctively, I flinched, which made his eyes flare with satisfaction. Then he turned on his heels, confident he'd won, and strode away, head high, shoulders back, and hands curled into tight fists.

  My head resonated with whispers that layered one on top of the other until the world around me faded away and all I knew was the voices. They pulled at me, trying to drag me down into a darkness I didn't understand but knew would swallow me whole. I fought back, trying to resurface, trying desperately to silence them. My sight went dark.

  "Elena!" Daniella shook me by the shoulders and shouted into my face, dragging me into the shadows of a tree.

  I heard her, her voice distinct amidst the chaos and focused all my energy on getting to her. Her hands on my shoulders felt like anchors to the real world so I concentrated on them, too, and the feel of the earth under my shoes. I dragged oxygen into my lungs and slowly brought myself back from the edge.

  My eyesight returned in a wash of brilliant light and color that made my eyes dampen. Through the tears I saw the fear and desperation on Daniella’s face and my heart squeezed sharply in my chest.

  “I’m okay,” I whispered, hoarsely, nodding assuredly to her and to Connor, whose face loomed just over Daniella’s shoulder, pale with worry.

  But I wasn’t okay. I knew it and, now, they knew it, too.

  Chapter 15

  “You nearly blacked out, Elena,” Daniella hissed as she nearly ran to keep up with my long strides. “You are not okay. What happened back there?”

  "I'm fine," I muttered, not wanting to delve into the specific details of my mental deficiency right now. I thought quickly about possible excuses for practically losing my mind and settled on one I knew she'd let drop. It was a dirty trick, but I needed a way out. I hesitated, slowing my steps, and turned to catch her gaze. "It was like I was back on the plane…" I bit my lip, feeling horrible for dredging up that trauma, especially when I saw her eyes filled with understanding.

  She nodded, barely a movement of her head, and murmured, "I get them, too." She pushed her hands into her jean pockets and fell silent.

  Students swarmed past us, on their way to breakfast or early classes, completely oblivious to the drama we'd instigated or the lies I told. I remembered making the decision to trust Daniella with all my secrets and had to swallow back the guilt. I'd tell her, eventually.

  Maybe.

  This wasn't like the other secrets. It wasn't as if we were all wrapped up in this together, sisters to the end, fighting side-by-side to take down the bad guys. I was going crazy, just like Dalia had, and one day, hopefully not soon, I’d tip over the edge and hurt somebody.

  It was my deepest fear. Not that Viktor would find me, torture me and, ultimately kill me. Not that somehow, I’d defeat my uncle and find myself in a position of leadership that I wasn't prepared for. The pressure of those possibilities weighed down on me endlessly, but they weren't what pulsed in the center of my soul every moment of every day since the whispers had begun and Dalia had revealed what they meant.

  She'd lost control and hurt innocent children, her children. She hadn't known why, but I did, which she assured me meant my experience would be different than hers. I hoped to the Old Ones she was right. She'd learned to control her wild natural powers with time and training, so I could do the same. Then again, to get the help I needed, I’d have to admit that I was hearing the voices already, and I wasn't ready to be locked away quite yet.

  "Listen, I know you're tired, I am, too. So, why don’t you head back to your dorm room and get some sleep. I'm going to go find Bash and fill him in on the details." I gave her a tired smile and hoped she'd take the hint. I really did need to be alone with my soulmate.

  She watched me for a second then nodded. "Okay." She stifled a yawn. "Old Ones, I really want some coffee, but it will keep me awake and I feel like the walking dead." Daniella glanced over at Connor. "You'll make sure she's all right?" Clearly, she was still concerned about me despite my explanation.

  "Always," Connor murmured.

  Daniella st
ared at him for a long moment, then nodded again. "Okay. I trust you. And you," she said pointing a finger at me with a devilish smile, "don't even think about waking me up before noon."

  "Deal." I didn't tell her that I planned on sleeping until mid-afternoon. I turned and headed towards Bash's dorm with Connor following at a distance.

  I let myself into Bash's room with the key he'd given me months ago and saw his bed rumpled and obviously slept in. The smell of whiskey in the air confirmed my suspicions that his night out with the guys had gotten lush. I followed the trail of discarded clothes to the shower and watched him lean into the spray of hot water with his eyes closed.

  He was gorgeous. I was always slightly surprised by how much the beauty of him affected me. The fact that he was my soulmate was beyond comprehension and I thanked the Old Ones every day that they'd blessed me with his love. Without making a sound, I pulled my clothes off, leaving them puddled on the floor, and pulled the shower door open.

  "Looks like my day is about to get a hell of a lot better," Bash murmured, finally opening those emerald green eyes to look at me. His hand slid around my waist and tugged me forward.

  My body fit against his so perfectly. I leaned into his embrace, wrapping my arms around his neck thrusting my fingers into his wet black hair to draw him near. He tasted of the whiskey with hints of saltiness that made me want to nibble and bite.

  So, I did.

  He moaned beneath my lips and tilted his head for a better angle as his hands dipped low over the curve of my body, then slid, inch by inch, up until his thumbs brushed over the peaks of my nipples. I arched into his hands, breaking our kiss to release a sigh of pleasure. His mouth found my skin and moved deliciously over its surface, leaving trails of fire in his wake. I hung on, head fallen back, as he devoured my neck and shoulders, then grasped my hips and lifted me until my legs wrapped around his waist and my back was pressed against the tile wall.

  His mouth fit over my nipple and his teeth bit sharp, almost painfully, around the sensitive peak. I cried out and dug my nails into the skin of his neck, lost in the twin sensations of pain and pleasure.

  Steam built around us, locking us into a magical mist where only we existed. I let my mind drift in the events that weighed so heavy on me, faded away for the moment. My body writhed, begging for more, bucking my hips against him as he drove me closer to oblivion with each lick or bite.

  Pressure built between my thighs, exquisitely painful, perfectly sensual, making me squirm and murmur incoherent demands until Bash slipped his hand between us and soothed my ache with his fingers.

  My body shook as I came abruptly, shattering into pieces as he rocked his palm against me and moved his fingers in and out, in and out. Then he was shifting and it was all I could do to hold on and breathe as he filled me and began to move.

  My world burst with color as he drove me up again, too fast, too hard to prepare for the explosion that rocked me from head to toe and deeper still. I cried out as my inner muscles twitched, holding him tight within me as he came with a roar and his body sagged against mine.

  We stayed like that, me trapped between Bash’s satiated body and the tile wall of the shower as water, no longer hot, beat down on us. I could've stayed like that forever but when the water changed from warm to freezing cold, we screamed in unison and bolted out.

  I stood naked in the middle of his bathroom shivering, my blood rushing wildly through my veins as my skin pebbled in response to the cold. I accepted the towel he handed me and wrapped it around my body, stifling a yawn.

  "How can you be tired after that?" Bash asked with a laugh. He raked his hands through his wet hair, then over the stubble on his chin as he glanced in the mirror. "Ughhh," he grumbled. "I'm going to have to shave or risk looking like a homeless man." He reached for his shaving cream, then paused when his gaze met mine in the mirror.

  Bash turned, uncaring of the fact that he was completely nude. "What's wrong?" He crossed the bathroom to me and reached for my hand. My fingers closed over his and held on as he gathered me into his arms.

  I shook. My entire body began to tremble as he held me softly against his chest, murmuring softly to calm me down. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to force myself to find the balance one last time, but I'd pushed too far already and my soul knew I was in a safe place. I gave in to the exhaustion and cascade of emotions that I'd held back since hearing of the murders. Bash gathered me in his arms, as easily as a parent lifts the child, and walked me out of the bathroom and over to his bed.

  I curled onto his lap and let the tears come.

  After a while, I felt the press of his mind on mine, asking to be let in so he could understand. I felt his confusion and worry as if it were my own and opened to him immediately. Without words, I told him everything that happened, from the news, to the war council, to Connor's return, and our planned encounter with Benson. He held me and rocked, soothing one hand down the length of my spine until my eyes grew heavy and I drifted into sleep.

  ♀♀♀

  I drifted out of dreams plagued by faceless murderers to the delectable scent of bacon and maple syrup.

  My eyelids were heavy. I squeezed them shut and yawned widely and arched my back in a spine crunching stretch that released a good bit of the tension that had been lingering in me while I slept.

  "Come on," Bash coaxed, settling onto the bed next to me and lightly tracing the contour of my face with his fingertips. "I may or may not have bribed one of the cooks into making you breakfast for supper."

  I peeked at him, so handsome and caring, then at the plate in his hand and drooled. My stomach, which hadn't seen food since early the night before, grumbled loudly, making my mate chuckle. He moved the plate away so I wouldn't topple it as I sat up and placed a pillow on my lap. With greedy hands I reached for the food, shimmying my shoulders in anticipation.

  "Why do girls do that?" Bash asked, a frown creasing his brow.

  "Do what?" I asked around a piece of bacon that was making my mouth water.

  Bash linked his hand towards me. "That dance, with your shoulders. Every girl I know does that when someone brings her food."

  I made a rude dismissive sound and shook my head. "I don't do that."

  "You just did it." Bash looked at me and mimicked my shimmy.

  My eyes went wide in recognition. "Crap, I do that all the time." I frowned, trying to remember what my girlfriends did when presented with food and had to bite back a laugh. "Okay, but it can't be all girls. I can't see Daniella doing it, or your mom." My eyes got even wider and I said on a gasp, "Old Ones, I think Sylvie LaFlamme does it!"

  It felt good to laugh, even if it was at my own expense. The darkness of the night before lifted just a little with each moment I spent with Bash. My chest ached in a good way at the intensity of love I felt for him in that moment. I lifted a piece of bacon to his lips as an offering and smiled when he nipped it from my fingers.

  "So, now that you're fed and rested, we should probably talk about what happened," Bash said, reaching for the twin to-go coffee cups. He handed me one and waited until I'd taken a long sip followed by an appreciative moan, to put it back on the nightstand.

  I chewed my lip for a second, trying to remember what I'd shared with him before passing out in his arms. It was all a little hazy, as I'd been exhausted, physically and emotionally. Plus, there'd been that little deal with the voices in my head. "I'm sorry, I was really tired. I thought I shared everything with you before I fell asleep."

  "No, you did. It's getting really clear between us, the connection, almost like watching a movie or playback, except I also experience your emotions while it happens to you. Did you know that?" He poked at a rip in his jeans absently.

  I thought about the times he'd shared things with me and flushed at the memory of the extremely dirty promises he'd made just the other day. There had been significant detail in his imaginative description and, just like it had the first time, it made my skin heat and my body react.

>   "Ummm..." I said around a piece of pancake covered in maple syrup in my mouth, using the food and as an excuse to calm my hormones. This wasn't exactly the time for sex.

  Bash chuckled softly. "I'm not talking about that, although, maybe I am." He rubbed a hand over his chin, which I noticed had been shaved since that morning. "It's days later and you're still reacting to that little message I sent. I don't think it's because it was particularly raunchy, although," he arched an eyebrow, "I am particularly proud of the level of raunch. But I was really horny when I sent it. Like, over the top, about to explode, horny. I think, maybe, that's why it affected you so much. You experienced my emotions."

  I considered his theory for a moment, then nodded. "That makes sense. It was like being hit with lightning, like going from zero to sixty in three seconds. One minute I was sitting in class, listening to a lecture on the physiology of wolves, and the next minute I was practically in When Harry Met Sally!”

  Bash’s face turned purple as he pressed a hand against his mouth, trying to hold back the laughter that bubbled up from his gut and burst free no matter what he did.

  I smacked him, hard. “It’s not funny! It was really embarrassing. Everyone knew exactly what I was feeling. I had to run out of class. I am not sure I can ever show my face in there again.” I closed my eyes and shook my head. “And Mr. Talbot! He’s so old and musty. His face was just… I could’ve killed him!”

  Bash grabbed his stomach and keeled over, laughing so hard he couldn’t speak. I grabbed the closest thing to me, another pillow, and bashed him over the head with it, but that just made him laugh harder. So, I glared at him and finished my breakfast, not offering him a single morsel of what was left out of sheer spite.

  I drank my coffee while he collected himself, then commandeered his because he’d made me relive the embarrassment of this little experiment. We’d already discussed what had happened, in length, while I’d still been freshly mortified and we each agreed to only sending sexy messages when we knew the other was in a safe space. I tossed the second empty coffee cup into the wastebasket and made my way to Bash’s bathroom to freshen up.